The HLTH 2024 conference covered major topics like generative AI, women’s health, weight loss medications, longevity and preventive health, and health equity.

The energy at HLTH 2024, one of the healthcare industry’s biggest events covering innovation, was electric, with more than 12,000 industry innovators, executives, famous figures and investors converging on Las Vegas to discuss the cutting-edge ideas shaping the future of healthcare. HLTH 2024 was all about what it means to “be bold”—pushing boundaries and redefining what’s possible in health. 

“HLTH is always one of the best conferences of the year,” said Ryan Mazar, Associate Director of Client Experience, Phreesia Network Solutions. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect with peers and partners and talk about the exciting future of healthcare.”  

So, what were the hot topics of conversation this year?  

1. Generative AI returns to the main stage  

A hot topic in 2023 and again this year was generative AI’s (GenAI) transformative role (both its promise and challenges), as leaders discussed how to responsibly use AI in healthcare. During a panel discussion about GenAI and the life sciences industry, leaders from Eli Lilly, HLTH Community, Bayer and Amgen explored how GenAI is making an impact across the entire development lifecycle, from drug discovery and side effect prediction to clinical trials, personalized medicine and supply chain management.  

“It is exciting to see how these organizations are leveraging GenAI and other technologies,” Mazar said. “For instance, Ramesh Durvasula from Lilly shared how the company has used GenAI to streamline operations and automate time-intensive tasks. Their AI initiatives have saved an estimated 1.4 million hours of human activity. That’s incredible.” 

Other sessions throughout the conference focused on how AI is enhancing healthcare delivery by providing personalized insights and improving patient care, and how it can address challenges like data overload.  

2. GLP-1 medications spark a health revolution 

In 2023, U.S. spending on GLP-1s surged past $50 billion, so it should come as no surprise that HLTH 2024 was packed with discussions about the promise and challenges of these treatments. More than 130 million Americans are eligible for GLP-1 medications, but many struggle to get the medication covered by insurance, making it difficult to access the treatment. 

Speakers also tackled the stigma around obesity head on, noting that obesity is often mislabeled as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronic disease. The media’s portrayal of obesity adds to the problem, as it often dehumanizes overweight people and makes it more difficult for people to seek treatment without feeling judged or embarrassed. 

“One message was abundantly clear within every conversation about GLP-1 medications,” said Kristin McHugh, Senior Client Experience Manager, Phreesia Network Solutions. “There is a need for more real-time and longitudinal data, as well as a need for a more personalized patient-centric approach to treating the epidemic.” 

3. Women’s health gains national attention 

Women’s health was a popular theme this year, and rightly so. It wasn’t until 1993—just 31 years ago—that the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research. Even still, women’s health conditions only represent 1% of healthcare research outside of oncology.  

On Monday afternoon, Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry took to the main stage to discuss women’s longevity and menopause. Halle Berry introduced the launch of her company Respin, a digital community focused on perimenopause and menopausal health. Berry shared what she feels is needed to help women navigate menopause: community, content, commerce and care—the “four Cs” that are driving the relaunch of her company. 

“It was beyond inspiring to see support finally being given for better health for all women, from research to resources,” McHugh said. “The overwhelming sense of community was powerful.” 

Other conversations around reproductive rights and funding for women’s health research were also key issues. On the final morning of the conference, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden gave a keynote address, emphasizing the need for increased research and funding in women’s health. 

“Even though half the country will go through menopause at some point in their lives, it seems like women’s bodies are considered miracles when we’re in our childbearing years and mysteries as we age,” Dr. Biden said. “I knew this had to change.” 

“One key thing that stood out to me was Maria Shriver’s discussion on the lack of research into women’s health,” said Pamela Arbelaez, Associate Director of Partnerships and Innovations, Phreesia Network Solutions. “Despite women being affected by many diseases at higher rates, the causes are often not investigated. It was particularly striking to learn that women spend, on average, 25% more time in poor health than men, underscoring the urgent need for more focus on improving women’s healthcare.” 

4. Longevity becomes a key focus  

Longevity was also a major focus at HLTH 2024, with sessions highlighting innovative strategies to help people age into their 100s. Experts shared a range of approaches, from fostering positive mindsets around aging, which are linked to healthier habits and lower chronic illness risk, to more advanced methods, like biometric tracking through biosensors and body scans that can preemptively detect diseases.  

Wearable tech also stood out, with devices like glucose monitors and the Oura Ring empowering individuals to track real-time health metrics and giving them greater control over their well-being and health. 

“I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 3, and as an adolescent, I never thought something like a Dexcom monitor was possible,” McHugh said. “Listening to patient advocate Kesha Carter talk about how Dexcom helps to ‘make sure there are no limits with diabetes’ really struck a chord. It’s inspiring to see organizations like Dexcom and so many others dedicate every day to easing the burden of diabetes and many other chronic illnesses.” 

Across sessions, the shared goal was clear: to enable longer, healthier lives by combining medical innovations with lifestyle support systems that address both physical and social needs.   

“I heard someone at HLTH say, ‘There is a rising wave of healthcare consumerism.’ This theme was evident throughout many of the presentations at HLTH,” Arbelaez said. “The sessions reinforced how important it is for healthcare to continue delivering innovative solutions that align with patients’ real-life needs.”   

5. Improving health equity needs to be a goal for everyone 

Health equity was a hot topic during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the focus on equity has waned in recent years. Fortunately, this year, health equity took a prominent place at HLTH 2024, with sessions that explored the challenges and innovations needed to bridge gaps in care for underserved and underrepresented populations. In one conversation, artist and entrepreneur John Legend joined Vanessa Broadhurst, EVP of Global Corporate Affairs at Johnson & Johnson, to discuss access to quality healthcare.   

During the conversation, Legend and Broadhurst highlighted significant gaps in the industry, especially in representing the diverse U.S. population in product development—particularly in skincare.  

To address this, Legend launched Loved01, a skincare line designed for melanin-rich skin, aiming to meet an unmet need in dermatology. People of color, who make up 40% of the population, are often not included in dermatology product testing—a gap that Loved01 seeks to fill. 

Another session explored how AI-powered wearables are bridging accessibility gaps and empowering visually impaired individuals. Be My Eyes, in partnership with Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, showcased how AI and live video support can provide blind and low-vision individuals with hands-free accessibility.  

“The clear call to action in these two sessions was to consider all patients from the beginning,” Mazar said.  

Singer Lenny Kravitz also joined conversations around health equity, discussing how providing comprehensive care to underserved communities can profoundly impact people’s lives and advance health equity.  

“One of the things I love most about the HLTH conference is how motivated I feel when I leave,” Mazar said. “It’s inspiring to see how so many organizations and people are finding ways to meet unmet needs in different populations and improve healthcare.” 

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can drive significant improvements in healthcare but concerns around their effectiveness are reasonable. How can the industry responsibly use these technologies to reach the right patients with meaningful content?

Artificial intelligence. Natural language processing. Machine learning. 

These terms can stir up heated conversations and debates, raising questions about the societal, ethical and economic implications of technology—especially in the healthcare industry. Concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are reasonable and warranted, as these systems can be prone to errors, particularly if they are trained on incomplete data.  

“[These technologies] aren’t a panacea and don’t magically produce better quality or efficiency in healthcare,” says Dr. Luke Goetzke, Director of Data Science, Phreesia Network Solutions. “Depending on how these tools are used, they can be biased or produce results that are simply wrong.” 

However, when implemented responsibly, these technologies can drive significant improvements and be extremely effective at solving certain types of problems, especially when human experts are involved to help avoid potential pitfalls, Dr. Goetzke says. At Phreesia, we leverage AI, ML and natural language processing (NLP) in responsible ways to better understand patient populations and help life science brands and government organizations reach the right patients with truly meaningful content. Here’s how. 

1. We use NLP to synthesize and interpret different ways of answering the same questions 

Phreesia works with healthcare organizations across the United States—and they all collect data in different ways. In 2023, Phreesia managed more than 150 million patient visits, which means a large amount of rich, unstructured patient data. Synthesizing and interpreting it safely and effectively calls for advanced methods that prioritize security.  

For example, patient-supplied answers that are gathered during the intake process can help identify what content is relevant for a unique person. Answers are sometimes selected from a supplied list of options and are sometimes free text. NLP techniques help address the many ways people can express the same idea and how words or phrases can have different meanings in different contexts, Dr. Goetzke says. 

Consider, for example, medical acronyms and abbreviations: In one context, the letters “CAS” might mean carotid artery stenosis, but in others, it might mean cerebral arteriosclerosis. Or those letters could appear inside a different yet common word, like casualty. “Trying to exhaustively list all the ways that snippets of text can be presented would be very challenging, if not impossible,” Dr. Goetzke says. 

Phreesia uses NLP techniques to more clearly define abstract rules or models that can help identify the likely meaning of words in context—as well as filter out non-relevant answers. These techniques can help identify whether a word is a medication, symptom or name, and how these words are related to each other in a sentence. NLP tools can also help identify when the meaning of a sentence has been negated.  

2. We use AI to make projections about expected future behavior  

As a business, one challenge is anticipating what the patient population is going to look like in a year or even five years. For example, we might have data on how many patients are being treated for chronic kidney disease (CKD) today, but how many patients do we expect to be treated for CKD a year from now? These types of projections and forecasts can help us identify patterns in healthcare and population trends to better understand patients and better serve our clients. 

To make these projections, we leverage a variety of time-series ML and AI methods, such as seasonal autoregressive models and other statistical techniques. These methods look for patterns in what we have observed in past years to extrapolate what might happen next year, Dr. Goetzke says.  

3. We use AI to define relevant clinical audiences for campaigns 

Our research shows that, when given the option, patients like content that is tailored to address their unique needs, and they welcome receiving that messaging at the point of care. But getting the right message to the right patient when they consent to see it requires an in-depth analysis of data, while also preserving privacy, and that is made possible through AI tools and technologies.  

“I think this is an area where Phreesia is really on the cutting edge and using AI and ML in a smart way,” Dr. Goetzke says.  

Phreesia’s Data Science team is actively developing knowledge graphs and large language models (LLMs) to accelerate the audience definition process, Dr. Goetzke says. A knowledge graph connects data points by linking relevant information—like symptoms, medications and diagnoses—to show how they are connected. The knowledge graphs that Phreesia’s team is developing are trained on third-party data from sources like the National Institutes of Health about medical concepts and the relationship between them, as well as Phreesia data. “The interface is like a library search tool on steroids,” Dr. Goetzke says. 

Without this tool, a member of Phreesia’s Analytics and Insights team would be tasked with making those connections and accurately and reliably identifying the type of patient a client wants to reach. While doable, it’s a time-consuming process, Dr. Goetzke says.  

“The biggest benefit that I think these tools can have right now is cutting out a lot of the leg work and saving time,” he says. “But this is also where we really leverage human-in-the-loop (HITL). While humans are not looking at patients’ unique data, an Analytics and Insights team member does review recommendations for audience definitions to validate them, add nuance and fine-tune the results.” 

Additionally, Phreesia continually reevaluates and validates audience definitions and model outputs—a critical step in reducing bias and errors, Dr. Goetzke says. “The risk for AI and ML failing is higher when it is being applied to data it has never seen before,” he says. “That’s why we regularly reevaluate the performance of our models on ‘out of sample’ data. Sometimes we discover new cases or edge cases where we need to teach our models to behave differently. We leverage a combination of ML, AI and HITL for this type of evaluation as well, enabling us to do this efficiently at scale.” 

In all use cases for AI tools and technologies, Phreesia keeps humans involved in the entire process to reduce errors and validate results. “I think real human intelligence is better than artificial intelligence, at least for now,” Dr. Goetzke says. “I’m excited about the time that we live in and the technology advances that we’ve made, but I think knowledge and wisdom are still coming from people.” 

Learn how Phreesia can leverage AI, ML, NLP and HITL to help you reach the right patients when they are in a healthcare state of mind.  

Glossary of Terms:  

Artificial intelligence: Refers to a field of science that involves building machines and computers that can perform human-like tasks. AI learns new information and improves output through exposure to large amounts of data. 

Machine learning: A type of artificial intelligence that allows machines and computers to learn and improve from experience—not from being explicitly programmed.  

Natural language processing: A type of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to understand, process and generate human language. It can be used to analyze the intent in a message, summarize documents and identify patterns. 

Human-in-the-loop: When humans are involved in the development and training of AI and ML systems, this collaboration is known as “human-in-the-loop.” 

Amid complex privacy requirements and the evolving patient journey, how are you meeting the right patient with the right message? Hear from media strategy experts on how to adapt to changes and connect with patients during key points in their care journey.

The way that we deliver the right message to the right patient is changing. Life science companies are navigating an evolving patient journey and complex privacy requirements. However, patient-centric technologies are helping teams address these trends so that they may deliver tailored health content to the many patients who consent to receive it. 

At Digital Pharma East 2024, Danielle Lynch, Vice President of Client Experience at Phreesia, sat down with leaders from Greater Than One, Klick Media and Pfizer to discuss how organizations are adapting to these changes and connecting with patients during key points in their healthcare journey. Here, we look at three key takeaways from the session.  

1. Privacy changes are increasing focus on partners’ practices 

The rapidly changing privacy legal landscape, coupled with the lack of a robust national policy, has made it more difficult to stay abreast of compliance requirements.  

The structure of an organization often informs how companies manage these challenges. Courtney Cruz, Senior Director of Integrated Media Strategy at Pfizer, said she tries to keep up with the requirements by “reading the trades and listening to podcasts” and collaborates with colleagues who are experts in the privacy space to keep the organization in compliance. 

Other organizations make more use of external expertise to stay at the forefront of privacy compliance. Greater Than One, where Italia Marr is Director of Media Strategy, has made privacy part of its planning checklist. This step ensures the agency asks the right questions about data and compliance and chooses partners that are committed to privacy. All companies need to scrutinize their partners.  

“We’re very choiceful in our partnerships, so we ask the hard questions of partners of how they’re protecting patient privacy,” Cruz said. “I think that it takes some extra work, and sometimes, honestly, a little more time, but it’s really important.” 

Similarly, Klick Media has prioritized evaluating partners as part of its investment in dedicated resources to stay ahead of rapidly evolving privacy requirements. The media organization asks partners about their data sources, what consent they have and how data is transferred, Ray Rosti, President of Klick Media, said.   

2. Patients are charting their own courses 

The vast amount of information—both helpful and harmful—has transformed the patient journey. Today, patients are charting their own courses. While “Dr. Google” is nothing new, the way people access health information continues to evolve, prompting teams to reconsider how they approach the patient journey.  

“What are they reading? Is it the right information? Are they getting the right answers? And how is it influencing their healthcare decisions?” Rosti asked at the session. “That has gotten really challenging. Think about all the places people can go for information. It’s not just Google anymore. It’s social media. It’s influencers who may or may not have the right information.” 

Marr shared how Greater Than One has created patient journey frameworks that show the audience at each step and the media that could reach those people. The approach has the flexibility to adapt as the team gains fresh understanding of often complex journeys that patients are navigating from symptoms to treatment.  

“It allows for iteration, where we can then say, ‘Okay, this is our starting point [in the] journey, but we’ve identified, through data, a subsegment. What is that part of the journey? How do we take that out and create a different framework for them?’” Marr said. “I think that’s been a great actionable solution that we’ve implemented.”  

3. Patients want content tailored to their journey 

Marr’s frameworks facilitate the personalization of content by identifying subgroups of patients with distinct needs. As Lynch said, patients near the start of the journey may just need awareness messaging to learn about a condition, while others may be exploring treatment options.  

“It’s important to make sure you’re tailoring the content at each different stage and using data,” Lynch said. “We often talk to clients who have all this data, aggregate it, and then have one message. We’re like, ‘Wait, no, these patients need different things at different times.’” 

Cruz shared a real-world example of a rare disease campaign that showed patients need different things at different times. The campaign was “doing a great job of reaching patients at the top of the funnel,” Cruz said. However, while Pfizer was successfully raising awareness of symptoms, it was seeing “a decline in those ready to take action.” 

Pfizer’s investigation revealed the campaign “didn’t have the most impactful messages to reach those patients further along in their journey,” Cruz said. By tailoring activities to the subsegment, Pfizer created a personalized campaign that better reflected the needs of patients at different stages of the journey.  

“We put different messages out there, a more clear call to action to someone who is ready to download a discussion guide. We also changed our media buying objective to optimize towards that audience that was more qualified and ready. That was when we saw a really key change in our metrics,” Cruz said. 

Cruz’s story of success through adaptation shows how flexibility is needed to get personalized messages to patients in the moments that matter. With privacy requirements evolving, and patients carving their own paths toward treatment, life science leaders need partners that can expertly navigate the changing environment to craft messages that resonate.   

Learn more about how Phreesia can help you connect with key patients amid the changing digital and privacy landscape.

Respiratory virus season is upon us, putting everyone at a higher risk for COVID-19, flu, pneumonia and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Hear from industry experts about how to overcome immunization challenges and increase vaccine uptake during this critical time.

Respiratory virus season is upon us, posing a serious threat to populations including young children, the elderly and those with certain chronic medical conditions who are at increased risk from COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The good news is that vaccines for all these conditions are easily accessible and can often be administered at the same time. 

However, despite availability, between September 2023 and May 2024, less than half of adult Americans received an influenza vaccine and only 22.5% received an updated COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC reports. 

There can be multiple obstacles preventing people from getting the vaccines they need to protect themselves and others, including concerns about side effects and trouble scheduling appointments. Misinformation about vaccines runs rampant on social media, some websites, TV and other channels, which can make people hesitant to bring up vaccination with their doctors. With immunizations such as the RSV vaccine, it’s so new that many people simply don’t know enough about it to discuss it or get it. “People may not be aware of these options and their benefits,” said Dr. Albert Rizzo, Chief Medical Officer for the American Lung Association. 

For others, respiratory illnesses can be out of sight, out of mind, says Seth Toback, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs at Novavax. 

“Without a visible daily reminder of the potential impact of these viruses—as we had during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—many people do not feel an urgent need to protect themselves. Others simply do not understand their own vulnerability,” he said.

Fortunately, doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers continue to be among the most trusted professions by the American public, according to the annual Gallup ethics and honesty poll, and they can help improve vaccine uptake by engaging patients and caregivers in conversations about the risk peoples face from seasonal respiratory infections, the protection provided by vaccination, and available vaccine options. 

3 strategies for supporting doctor-patient conversations this respiratory season

1. Deliver tailored messages before doctor’s appointments 

Reaching patients and caregivers at the point of care is an effective strategy for supporting vaccine confidence and adoption, according to new research. Between March 2020 and May 2024, Phreesia delivered tailored vaccine messages, such as content focused on reducing hesitance, receiving boosters or starting or completing vaccine series, to groups segmented based on factors including demographics and vaccination status. 

The results were clear: Those who saw messages just before doctor’s appointments were more than twice as likely, on average, to get vaccinated as those who didn’t, and 65% of those who saw the vaccine content said they were likely to discuss vaccines with their doctor. 

As Dr. Rizzo pointed out, people come to medical clinics and facilities ready to have conversations about their health, so they’re likely more open to discussing vaccines and other ways to stay healthy. And tailored content that’s relevant to the patient can help put the importance of vaccination in context. 

“At the point of care, the risk associated with contracting a particular respiratory virus can also be discussed in the context of chronic medical conditions, age, and other risk factors. It is a good opportunity to discuss the burden of missed school days, workdays, doctor’s visits, etc. that can be tailored to the patient,” he said. 

2. Provide vaccine content in safe informational environments 

Equipping people with accurate information about vaccines via channels that do not host mis- and disinformation about immunization is critical. This is especially effective when materials are served right before a doctor is available to answer questions and address concerns, Dr. Rizzo says. 

“For those who are uncertain about vaccination, it gives them time to review the information and come to the appointment ready to ask their questions and discuss,” Toback agreed. 

That was the case for patient Bergerette, who received information about COVID-19 vaccination on the Phreesia platform while checking in for an appointment. “Some information that was relayed was new to me, and I talked with my provider about what steps I needed to take,” she said. “I told my husband about it as well, which got him to get vaccinated.”  

Materials should provide a short, easy-to-understand explanation of who is at risk from various respiratory viruses and how vaccines work to protect the body—especially children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, Toback suggests. “Patients should be informed about available vaccine options, when they should receive them and who is eligible to receive them.” 

They should also give clear action steps and make it easier to take those steps. Providing sample questions to ask a doctor, for example, can help a patient initiate a discussion in which a doctor can address any concerns or confusion they may have. 

3. Follow up after appointments 

Reaching out to people before they arrive at medical appointments and initiating conversations at the point of care will ideally lead to vaccines being administered in the office. But that’s not always possible; sometimes, one conversation isn’t enough to foster confidence in vaccines, and more discussion with a patient is needed. Dr. Rizzo recommends continuing patient engagement at multiple post-appointment touchpoints. 

“This shouldn’t be just one conversation,” he emphasized, noting that healthcare stakeholders should take every opportunity they can to share the importance of vaccination with patients.  

Those opportunities can include a follow-up email, text or other communication, depending on the patient’s contact preferences. Educational materials should be available at the point of care “to continue education following the patient visit,” he said. 

Learn how Phreesia can help you reach patients before, during and after appointments with tailored, high-quality health information to support doctor-patient vaccination conversations and drive behavior change. 

While there are significant benefits to presenting patients with relevant health information throughout their treatment journey, responsible data collection and use is critical to build and maintain patients’ trust. How can the industry prioritize patient centricity in privacy?

From helping patients have important conversations with their providers to supporting better-informed decisions about their health and more, there are innumerable benefits to presenting patients with high-quality, relevant health information at meaningful times throughout their treatment journey. However, responsible data collection and use is critical to building and maintaining patients’ trust.  

Melissa Mitchell, Chief Privacy Officer at Phreesia, and Anthony Matyjaszewski, VP and Chief Compliance Officer for the Network Advertising Initiative, recently joined the MM+M Podcast to discuss best practices for taking a patient-centric approach to privacy and consent when providing users with relevant content. Here, we look at four takeaways from that conversation.  

1. Activate patients with relevant content when they say they want it 

Phreesia data shows that patients who receive high-quality, relevant health information at the point of care and at other key moments in their healthcare journey have higher rates of diagnosis and increased preventive screenings. For example, 78% of women who saw a Phreesia campaign about breast cancer awareness said they were likely to talk to their doctor about screening, and more than half (52%) of patients who engaged with a Phreesia public service announcement about Alzheimer’s disease said they were likely to talk to their doctor about it. 

While tailored health content can help educate patients and activate them to participate in their care, one of the most important factors in delivering this type of information to patients is providing it to the extent that they actually want to see it, Mitchell said.  

“Showing this information to these folks really does have an impact on their lives, and we want to be able to do that to the extent that they want to be empowered by that information,” she explained. Prioritizing their consent and being clear about the types of information they will have the opportunity to view is key to ensuring they receive only content they want to see, she added.  

2. Be transparent about how data is collected and used 

As numerous state consumer health-data privacy laws emerge and go into effect, balancing new regulations with beneficial uses of consumers’ health data—while still protecting their privacy—should be a top priority when reaching patients with tailored content, Matyjaszewski noted.  

“Meeting consumers’ expectations and being open and honest with them about what data is being collected, used and shared [is key],” he said. “If done right, it’s the best of both worlds. Consumers’ privacy is protected, and they feel comfortable with what’s going on in the background, while also receiving the right messaging at the right time that can actually help them improve their health outcomes.”  

Providing consumers with clear explanations about why they’re seeing particular content also helps to maintain their trust. As part of a privacy-centric consumer experience, individuals should be fully aware of when they’ve opted in to view tailored information. Examples might include consenting to receive additional messaging after seeing their provider or electing to be notified when new treatments or clinical trials become available after reading a relevant article.  

3. Create an appropriate feedback loop 

While having an easy-to-understand user interface and approach to consent are vital to making sure that consumers are aware of how their data is collected and used, implementing a channel for them to give direct feedback also can go a long way toward boosting consumer engagement and trust. Mitchell noted that at Phreesia, giving individuals the ability to reach out with privacy questions or feedback has become a very important part of the company’s business, as it helps to ensure that patients have a clear understanding of how its platform works, as well as offering a means to inform updates.  

By maintaining a dedicated email channel for patients to engage with members of its Privacy team, Phreesia can communicate directly with any patients who write in with questions or concerns. In turn, that patient feedback also can help aid the company’s decision-making around privacy best practices. While implementing this type of approach to user intent might not be scalable for all situations, it’s worth exploring even if in a somewhat smaller capacity, Mitchell said.  

“Even if it’s a super-heavy lift for your business, [having some type of feedback loop] is well worth the effort because of the great gain you can make both in understanding what people are thinking and in just how far you can go with patient trust,” she said. 

4. Evaluate vendor relationships related to data privacy  

Companies that prioritize privacy and consent should look closely at how their vendors or partners are also applying a patient-centric approach to these areas amid today’s rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Asking questions of partners—such as how they maintain regulatory standards or safely manage user data—will allow you to determine if they’ll be able to successfully help you maintain patients’ trust while supporting your business, Matyjaszewski said. 

“One of the most important processes is understanding the extent to which there’s an applicable accountability program,” he advised.  

Ultimately, understanding whether a vendor is ready to adapt to changing privacy laws and feedback from patients and other life sciences brands is a key consideration to assess when evaluating partnerships during this dynamic time in the industry, Mitchell explained.  

“The ability to be flexible and ever-evolving is important because we’re going to continue seeing more and more guidance, regulations, best practices and expectations—which is a good thing,” she said. “I’d want to try to find out if a partner was ready for all of that.” 

Learn more about Phreesia’s commitment to improving health outcomes and protecting patient privacy. 

Patients with less common conditions can face numerous care challenges. From finding an appropriate specialist to accessing relevant resources and affording a treatment regimen, how can the industry help connect these patients to the care they need?

Managing and treating any disease or chronic condition can be difficult, but patients with less common conditions often face a range of additional care hurdles. It’s frequently more difficult for these patients and their caregivers to find the right specialist, access relevant resources or afford a treatment regimen, all of which can negatively impact their health outcomes. So how can you connect these patients to the care they need? 

In a panel discussion at the 2024 DTC National Conference, biopharma and media industry leaders shared their strategies for supporting rare-disease patients along their healthcare journey. Alexandra Beneville, Vice President of Content Strategy at Phreesia, kicked off the discussion by noting how challenging it can be to effectively reach these patients.  

“I think one of the most important things to start with is really understanding their experiences,” Beneville said. “What are the hurdles that they are facing that limit and delay their diagnosis, their access to care and even their own behavior?”  

Here are the panelists’ top three suggestions for overcoming those hurdles. 

1. Engage advocacy groups to expand reach 

One challenge that patients with rare diseases in particular often face is a lack of access to other people with their condition. That isolation makes them vulnerable to a concept known as “satisficing”—a term that refers to settling for adequate options rather than spending time and energy searching for the best options, said Katrina Gary, Senior Director of Patient Marketing and Engagement at argenx.  

“Over time, patients just get resigned to their condition, and the bar gets lower and lower,” Gary explained. “They go for years without seeing someone who feels like them and understands them.” 

Patient advocacy groups can mitigate that challenge by providing critical support and reliable information about new therapies to patients with rare diseases. Many advocacy groups also have integrated advanced tools into their websites that can help patients find the right specialist care and additional resources to help them better manage their condition. 

Working with patient advocacy groups to create content that is tailored to support rare-disease patients throughout their care journey is key. Such partnerships “are about building trust with the patient community,” Gary said. “They are living the experience. It is imperative to connect in an authentic, meaningful way.” 

2. Leverage the specificity of digital platforms 

Getting your message out to very small patient populations is tricky, the panelists agreed, but a growing array of digital tools is easing the process of delivering ultra-specific services and messages to patients.  

“No two patient journeys are the same,” said Jennifer Anderson, Director of Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) Innovation and Operations at Takeda. A patient with HAE in a rural setting who is treated primarily by their internist is unfortunately likely to have a different experience than a patient in a big city with easy access to specialists, she explained, adding that Takeda leverages data and insights to determine where each patient is in the care spectrum so its content can be tailored accordingly.  

Those digital capabilities make it easier for patients to connect with physicians who specialize in treating their rare disease in many ways, from embedding doctor-finder tools into brand or condition websites to providing transportation to patients who need help getting to their specialist’s office, the panelists shared. 

Other options, such as television streaming services, mobile apps and tailored point-of-care messaging, also can be effective. In addition, keyword research can be used to plan content strategies based on the exact information rare-disease patients seek. 

Mark Pappas, Executive Vice President of Innovation at CMI Media Group, added that audio and gaming channels also can be particularly effective in reaching small patient groups.  

“There’s a podcast for everything,” Pappas said. “Even if a podcast that’s dedicated to a rare disease only draws a few hundred listeners, those people are very engaged and drawn into the content.” 

3. Integrate the caregiver journey 

In the world of rare diseases, engaging with patients’ caregivers is as important as reaching patients themselves, the panelists emphasized.  

“Caregivers play a tremendous role throughout the patient journey,” said Jo Zmood, Managing Director at OMD USA. “Often, they accompany the patient on their health journey, in the physician’s office, or through specific sites and communities. However, they are an audience in themselves that also needs to be recognized for their role, emotional state and experiences along this journey.”  

Zmood added that the industry is ideally positioned to provide the right content to caregivers at moments that matter.  

“Sometimes it’s as simple as recognizing caregiver pain points and exploring ways to help mitigate those obstacles,” she said. 

Thanks to advances in technology, it’s becoming easier to support patients with rare diseases by delivering personalized content to them when and where they need it. A patient with a rare disease might know how to manage their condition after living with it for years, or they might be experiencing changes in their condition that are changing their life, Beneville said, adding, “We need to meet them at each of those moments.” 

Find out how Phreesia can help you make care easier every day for patients with a rare disease by empowering them to be active participants at every stage of their healthcare journey. 

Offering patients the option to view personalized health content throughout their care journey can help drive positive outcomes, and Phreesia research shows that patients also welcome receiving that information at the point of care and other critical moments.

Providing high-quality, relevant health information to patients at high-intent points along their care journey can have a big impact on driving positive outcomes. And the great news is, Phreesia research shows that patients also welcome receiving that information at the point of care and other critical decision-making moments.  

Why personalized health content matters

If given the option, patients indicate that they would like resources and content that are tailored to address their needs, according to more than 9,200 patients who consented to participate in a Phreesia survey after completing check-in for their doctors’ appointments. Indeed, more than 4 in 5 patients said they value receiving new and relevant information about medications or therapies related to them or their health condition(s). 

“This data shows there is a significant window of opportunity within the point-of-care moment where patients are eager for information to inform their healthcare decisions,” says Alexandra Beneville, Vice President of Content Strategy at Phreesia. “By delivering relevant content when they’re wanting it most, we can significantly impact their engagement and outcomes.” 

In some cases, the health implications of receiving personalized resources at critical moments in a patient’s care journey can even be lifesaving. That was the case for Chemikia White, a Phreesia patient. 

“Phreesia saved my life. After viewing health content on its platform during check-in, I decided to ask my doctor about a potential treatment for some issues I was experiencing,” White says. “My doctor ran some tests that showed I had a severe medical condition, and I ended up having an operation that pretty much saved my life. The content Phreesia presented helped me ask the right questions to get the care I needed.”  

Offering patients like White the option to access tailored resources and messaging can provide much-needed support in key decision-making moments, such as before seeing their doctor or filling a prescription. In fact, more than 9 in 10 surveyed patients found value in information about the right questions to ask their provider (92%) and general support on how to become more active in their care (91%). Respondents also considered information on specific health problems they might be at risk for, and how to lower that risk (90%), as valuable. 

Cutting through the clutter: Why trusted channels matter

In today’s content-heavy world, where patients receive healthcare information from a range of digital, offline and mass-media channels, it can be difficult to sort through the clutter and evaluate which content is useful. The option to view messaging through trusted and relevant engagement at the point of care and at other high-intent moments along the healthcare journey is incredibly effective in activating patients. For example, a Phreesia survey completed by over 3,500 patients who consented to participate after completing check-in for their doctors’ appointments found that nearly one-quarter (23%) of patients who viewed content about medications at the point of care asked their doctor about those medications within the past six months—more than double compared with patients who saw similar content on TV (11%). 

“Point-of-care messaging motivates patients to play a more active role in their care because it reaches them at a time and place where they are most receptive and can act quickly,” Beneville explains.     

The latest digital patient-engagement research from Phreesia’s network supports existing knowledge of the important health implications that can result when patients are provided with high-quality, relevant information when they’re in a healthcare mindset. Across Phreesia’s network, 2 in 3 patients surveyed immediately after seeing condition-specific messaging just before their appointments said they were likely to discuss the condition with their healthcare provider (HCP). Engaging patients with trustworthy, one-to-one messaging with their consent has led to better health outcomes like increased diagnosis rates, more chronic disease treatment, preventive screenings and vaccinations, and improvements in health symptoms and quality of life. The results are clear:  

  • Patients 50 to 80 years old with a history of smoking were 234% more likely to get screened for lung cancer after viewing a campaign on Phreesia’s platform when compared to those who hadn’t seen the message. 
  • 78% of women who saw a message on Phreesia’s platform about breast cancer risks said they were likely or very likely to talk to their doctors about breast cancer screening. 
  • 52% of patients who engaged with a Phreesia public service announcement about Alzheimer’s disease said they were likely to talk to their doctor about it. 

Offering patients the option to view health information that is personally relevant to them, especially before an interaction with their HCP, ultimately helps with educating, empowering and activating them to participate more fully in their care—leading to more meaningful conversations and better outcomes.  

Learn how Phreesia can help you reach patients with relevant, high-quality health information to activate them at critical moments throughout their healthcare journey. 

As the privacy landscape undergoes dramatic changes, it’s more important than ever to evaluate whether your partners have built their offerings to support data privacy and consent standards.

The privacy landscape is undergoing dramatic changes, with new regulations and state laws, increased FTC enforcement within the healthcare and technology sectors, and changes to commonly-used measurement and audience definition technologies. As these shifts occur, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your partners and vendors have meaningfully built privacy and consent into their offerings. By doing so, consumers can make informed choices about their data privacy and your team’s plans comply with all applicable regulations. 

Investing in tools and strategies that support responsible data collection and use is critical to maintain patients’ trust. When evaluating how a vendor’s consumer tactics prioritize privacy and consent, consider these four questions: 

1. Does the partner have a Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy in place? If so, what is it asking consumers to agree to, and how is this communicated?

When assessing partners’ privacy policies, both substance and clarity are important. Carefully examine what the policy allows partners to do with consumer health data, how long they can keep the data, and if/how the data can leave their control. It’s important to ensure policies are easily digestible for consumers to maintain transparency. Some additional elements that regulators are watching for are specificity and how clearly the policy communicates these requests.  

For example, if the language used in a vendor’s privacy policy includes too much jargon or is overly technical, how well will consumers understand what they’re being asked to agree to? When choosing a partner, it’s important to look for policies that make it clear to an individual what they can expect to happen with their data if they agree to it being used. 

2. How does the partner prioritize patient consent? Is health content delivered based on data captured from individuals via unconsented technologies like cookies, trackers, pixels or other methods? 

Technologies like pixels, cookies and trackers often gather information without an individual’s consent, or even their awareness. However, new state privacy laws now require specific consent before collecting and using consumer health data, which means that tactics that rely on these technologies may not meet the standards in some areas. Investing in technologies that require appropriate consent and use first-party data to deliver health messaging is important. Not only does this allow for personalization and effective delivery, but it also offers both you and the consumer transparency about when and how a message will be served.   

Consent-first platforms also help teams plan and execute campaigns more efficiently without a state-by-state-level approach that needs to be frequently adjusted to comply with shifting regulations. Plus, with the full phaseout of third-party cookies from Google’s Chrome browser quickly approaching, working with consent-first platforms will be a matter of both compliance and practical necessity.

3. Are data models used to draw inferences about one group of individuals, based on the consumer health data of others? 

Although tools like lookalike audience modeling don’t directly gather consumer health data from the people they identify for messaging, there’s concern about whether these types of models are obtaining accurate consent. For instance, do the individuals whose data is used to create a lookalike model give consent? And do the people who receive healthcare messages through these models also provide consent? Making inferences on high-quality data that has been gathered from individuals with their consent ensures more reliable and accurate results, all while staying compliant with new privacy standards. 

4. Does the partner use geofences to deliver health content?

Geofencing is a method used to identify and interact with consumers based on their location. However, the tactic is prohibited or limited under various state consumer health privacy laws. Additionally, GPS data, which is often used in geofencing, is now increasingly considered as sensitive information. Some stakeholders are attempting to work around these restrictions by excluding certain healthcare service areas from their geofencing efforts. However, completely excluding these areas is more challenging under the new state laws than some realize, as there is no comprehensive list of all the specific healthcare locations that fall under protection. 

If considering using geofencing strategies, it’s crucial to understand how a partner that supports geofencing implements exclusions around places like health facilities and other sensitive locations. This is essential for complying with existing state laws. As this area of regulation continues to evolve, it may be worthwhile to explore alternatives to geofencing to ensure compliance and effectiveness in messaging and engagement efforts.  

Creating a privacy-preserving environment  

As new laws go into effect at both the state and federal levels, considerations around what is acceptable for privacy and consent within healthcare messaging are evolving quickly. Healthcare communications specialists know the value of personalization—and consumers, too, expect to find relevant content when using digital channels. Offering a tailored experience does not need to be at odds with compliance, but it may require thinking about partners in a different way.   

Learn more about our consumer health data privacy policy and how Phreesia can help you safely connect with patients at key moments in their healthcare journey. 

The process of finding a specialist and getting on therapy is complex and difficult for many patients. Hear from industry experts about how to support patients early in their care journey.

The road from initial symptoms to effective treatment is long and fraught for many patients. With some conditions—particularly rare diseases—just getting a diagnosis can be a multi-year struggle. Every week without treatment can increase a patient’s risk for complications, creating a need for interventions and tools that can streamline the process of connecting patients to the right physicians and efficiently getting on therapy. 

Phreesia and The DHC Group recently hosted a webinar to discuss some of the issues patients face at the start of their care journey. As Tara Sheehy, Director of Client Experience at Phreesia, explained, there is a big opportunity for companies to give patients the tools and education they need to “really take control and champion for their own health and have those meaningful, shared decision-making conversations with their doctors.” 

The data reinforces the hurdles patients often confront in scheduling a doctor’s appointment and getting on treatment. A 2023 survey from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners found that more than a quarter of patients (26%) typically wait two months or more for an appointment. And specialty care delays are worse: Wait times for cardiology appointments in metropolitan markets increased by 26% from 2017 to 2022, and wait times for orthopedic surgeries were longer still, at 48%. 

There also is an opportunity to help patients who want or need to switch providers. Approximately 1 in 5 patients who take medications seek a new doctor every year for various reasons, Sheehy said, and pharma companies can play a role in ensuring patients’ continuity of care when they change providers. Here, we look at three ways to support patients early in their care journey. 

1. Use digital tools to close care gaps 

Finding the right care requires linking the right doctor with the right patient at the right moment for the right health issue, which can be a lot for a patient to navigate. However, digital tools can help make finding a doctor and getting a diagnosis more seamless. 

As an example, Claudia Kanaszyc, Associate Director at Amgen, shared how her team helps patients with thyroid eye disease get diagnosed. The condition’s symptoms—itchy, red, watery eyes—often lead patients to believe that allergies are the cause. But if a patient goes to an optometrist or an allergist for treatment, their correct diagnosis could be delayed. To avoid that issue, Amgen has created educational tools to help steer those patients to a thyroid eye specialist.  

“We’ve curated a list of doctors who we know are educated on this specific disease state,” Kanaszyc explained. “Whether it’s working with referrals or educating patients through different digital tactics and digital tools, we’re always driving them there, so we can shorten that time to treatment and provide optimal outcomes.” 

Sheehy noted that digital, quiz-style symptom trackers also can help speed diagnosis. Patients input their symptoms into the tracker, and an algorithm generates relevant questions to ask their doctor, as well as specialists to consider. 

“It’s a really meaningful tool to help facilitate that discussion and let the patient take a proactive role in going to see the right doctor at the right time for the right problem,” Sheehy said. 

At Octapharma, Eric Marrero, the company’s Director of Brand Marketing and Communications, is using hubs to get patients the information they need. Through the comprehensive program, which also includes financial assistance and community engagement, patients and caregivers can connect one-on-one with educators to learn about Octapharma’s infusion process and other aspects of their care.

2. Continually gather patient insights to improve services 

Anthony Scatamacchia, SVP, Innovation, Patient Services at EVERSANA, emphasized the value of taking a close look at the patient experience before rolling out new programs or tools.  

“We are very focused on spending time upfront understanding what that patient journey is, where their pain points are,” Scatamacchia said. “That will dictate what the product value chain is and what the patient value chain is.” Understanding that value chain informs strategy and the digital tools that physicians and patients will need.  

Similarly, Octapharma’s educational initiatives are the result of a seven-month deep dive that investigated how to best help the patients it serves. But that upfront research was just the start. As Marrero explained, it’s a mistake to think that initial insights are going to carry a project through the lifecycle of a product. Success is built on ongoing data collection and adjustments.  

Annual market research panels are no longer enough, Sheehy agreed, recommending instead a constant learning and feedback loop. Octapharma is among the companies that have adopted such a model. 

“Once patients touch anything within the program, they’ll get a notification asking them, ‘Were you satisfied with that?’ ” Marrero said. “At every given point, we’re trying to get more and more information in order to evolve that program as much as the patients are evolving. That changes as time progresses, so we have to change along with it.” 

3. Deploy AI and other technologies thoughtfully 

Technology itself also needs to adapt to external changes. Today, that means companies are looking at how artificial intelligence (AI) can support their activities. Scatamacchia’s current explorations reflect concerns that “AI, as a language-learning model, is a cowboy out in the Wild West,” adding that it’s very challenging to use AI with regulatory and compliance processes.   

“We’ve seen chatbots struggle going through legal reviews because they want a very regimented set of responses to a very regimented set of questions,” he said. “AI sometimes is not necessarily aligned to that, especially in some of its better use cases.” 

While he does see opportunities to use AI and other new technologies early in the care journey, Scatamacchia also advocates sticking with the old ways when they work. He encouraged organizations to be mindful about their technology choices by asking, for example, if an app is the right tool for a given situation or whether a text message could achieve the same goal. Asking such critical questions can stop programs from burdening patients.  

And, as always, no matter the technology, messaging matters most when communicating with patients. Sheehy underscored the value of tapping into the entire healthcare system to discover the right messaging strategies to activate a given patient group, noting that all messaging should be approached with empathy and emotion. 

Find out how Phreesia and MediFind can help you make care easier every day for patients by supporting and empowering them to be active participants at every stage of their healthcare journey.

We spoke with Melissa Mitchell, Chief Privacy Officer at Phreesia, about the importance of privacy in our work and how Phreesia protects it every step of the way.

At Phreesia, we believe everyone should be in charge of their health information, and we’ve built our platform of personalized health content on the principles of privacy and consent.  

We recently sat down with Melissa Mitchell, Phreesia’s Chief Privacy Officer, to discuss the importance of privacy in our work and dive into her background, approach to privacy and goals for the future.

Tell us a bit about your background before you came to Phreesia.

Mitchell: I started my career as a practicing attorney, and eventually made my way into the compliance and privacy world working in hospitals in Chicago, where I live. Then I made the move to health tech. When Amazon started venturing into healthcare, I joined the company first in compliance and then eventually as Chief of Privacy for Amazon Health. Healthcare was a new space for Amazon at the time, and there were data and privacy concerns that came with entering the market. Now in my role at Phreesia, I find that a lot of the patient and client questions we get surrounding data and privacy are similar to the questions I faced at Amazon, so I was able to hit the ground running with an understanding of the questions that people may have.   

What made you excited to work at Phreesia? 

Mitchell: I have always been passionate about the intersection of data and privacy. I’m excited about the prospect of all the great things we can do with data to help people while also protecting their privacy in a meaningful way.   

There are great conveniences and advantages in my life because I have trusted and believed in organizations that use data in a responsible way—with my consent and my understanding of how they are using it. As a result, I’m really invested in transparency and making sure patients understand how our platform works so they can make informed decisions.  

One thing I was excited to see at Phreesia is that we have a lot of data showing that patients who receive high-quality, relevant health information at the point of care have better health outcomes, including higher rates of diagnosis and increased preventive screenings. One patient even shared with us that seeing relevant information after check-in actually saved her life. She was shown content related to symptoms she was experiencing, she asked her doctor about a potential treatment, they ran tests, and she ended up having a life-saving operation.  

We also have compelling data that shows that a significant number of patients want to see health information that is relevant to them, especially before an interaction with their healthcare provider. I think it’s empowering and incredibly valuable that we offer patients that option.

What is Phreesia’s approach to privacy?  

Mitchell: Phreesia’s approach is why I was excited to join the organization. We are driven by protecting patient privacy every step of the way, and we follow the highest industry standards and best practices for securing and protecting user data.  

Phreesia is unique because we act as a business associate to our healthcare organization clients, and we’re governed by HIPAA when we’re acting on their behalf—for instance when patients use Phreesia to check in for an appointment.  

But for patients who provide optional consent, Phreesia also provides content that is sponsored by life sciences companies, advocacy groups and other organizations—without sharing data with those sponsors. While patients are checking in, we may present them with an optional HIPAA authorization. If they accept, Phreesia may use their data to show them personalized health information after their check-in is complete. During that part of the patient journey, our activities are governed by our privacy policy. 

We’re always aiming for transparency when asking for consent so we can really feel confident that patients understand what they are agreeing to. It’s a constant priority to make sure we’re not just obtaining consent but that we’re being clear and transparent.  

Tell us how Phreesia prioritizes consent. 

Mitchell: Trust and consent are at the heart of everything we do. We’re required by HIPAA to obtain consent to show patients relevant health information. But we’re going further to continually improve how we present that authorization—how clearly it reads, where it is located, etc. Some of the changes we’ve made include adding language at the top clearly stating that the form is optional and making the authorization itself shorter and hopefully easier to digest. And then beyond that authorization, we want the policies that govern our use of patient data to be very clear and understandable, which is why they’re easy to find on our website.  

It’s incredibly important that patients trust us. Phreesia has been around for nearly two decades, and being confusing to patients does not align with our mission, vision and values.  

I spend a lot of time talking directly to individuals who reach out with questions about our privacy practices—and I’m happy to do it. I enjoy talking with people directly because I think it can really move the needle on helping them understand what we do. We’re going beyond checking the box of being HIPAA-compliant and giving patients additional channels to tell us what they think about Phreesia, how clear our communication on consent is, and express any concerns. This is something we are highlighting now more than ever, and it’s been both exciting and enlightening to hear the feedback and use it to proactively make improvements. 

I want to make sure people understand what we do and what we don’t do—for instance, we don’t use trackers or cookies and we don’t ever sell data. What you do on the Phreesia platform won’t follow you around the internet. I want patients to understand that our platform is based on consent and that privacy is our North Star.

What are you looking forward to next? 

Mitchell: I’ve been at Phreesia for almost a year, and in that time, we’ve become more proactive in communicating about privacy to our patients and partners. One thing I want people to know is that there is a real person responding to their privacy questions—and that person is usually me. I truly enjoy speaking to people and helping them understand what we do, and I’m excited to do more of it.  

We’ve made strides this year, but there will always be more work to be done, and that excites me. The privacy landscape, especially in healthcare, is changing every day. Companies are constantly looking at how to take the changing regulatory space and make it digestible for everyone. It’s an exciting challenge, and I truly enjoy translating what we do into a patient-friendly approach.

Learn how Phreesia can help you safely connect with patients at key moments in their healthcare journey.